Siede C, Komainda M, Tonn B, Wolter S M C, Schmitz A, Isselstein J
Department of Crop Sciences, Grassland Science, University of Goettingen, Von-Siebold-Str. 8, 37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Department of Crop Sciences, Grassland Science, University of Goettingen, Von-Siebold-Str. 8, 37075 Göttingen, Germany.
J Equine Vet Sci. 2024 Mar;134:105011. doi: 10.1016/j.jevs.2024.105011. Epub 2024 Jan 27.
Horses can contribute to the maintenance of grassland. To determine the potential contribution of grassland to horse nutrition, we investigated the seasonal variation of herbage on offer and its nutritional quality in an inventory on six practical horse farms in Central Germany during 2019. On all horse-grazed pastures compressed sward height (CSH) was measured monthly and converted into aboveground herbage (AGH) to allocated short and tall grass sward areas (area-specific) via calibration cuts. In addition, four focus pastures were selected for monthly obtained area-specific herbage quality samples. The farm-specific management was monitored using questionnaires and grazing diaries to determine underlying factors influencing herbage biomass and quality. The proportion of short grass sward areas increased during the grazing season (p=0.0010), which was related to high stocking intensity in terms of livestock unit grazing days (LUGD, p <.0001). On most farms, LUGD were constant throughout the growing season and not adjusted to changing grass growth. Herbage crude protein (CP, p=0.0038), metabolizable energy (ME, p <.0001) concentrations and acid detergent fibre in the organic matter (ADF, p <.0001) differed among the grass sward areas. The results suggest that sufficient ME (4.2 ± 0.32 - 8.4 ± 0.15 MJ ME kg DM) for maintenance and pre-caecal digestible CP (pcdCP) (37.0 ± 3.86 - 77.4 ± 4.44 g kg DM) could be provided during the grazing season. The study highlights the need to incentivise grassland management for herbage provision among horse owners to exploit the potential of grassland during the grazing season.
马匹有助于维持草地生态。为了确定草地对马匹营养的潜在贡献，我们于2019年在德国中部六个实际运营的马场进行了一项调查，研究了可利用牧草的季节变化及其营养质量。在所有马匹放牧的牧场上，每月测量压缩草层高度（CSH），并通过校准刈割将其转换为地上牧草（AGH），以划分矮草和高草草地区域（按面积计算）。此外，选取了四个重点牧场，每月采集特定区域的牧草质量样本。通过问卷调查和放牧日记监测各农场的管理情况，以确定影响牧草生物量和质量的潜在因素。矮草草地区域的比例在放牧季节有所增加（p = 0.0010），这与以牲畜单位放牧天数（LUGD，p <.0001）衡量的高放牧强度有关。在大多数农场，整个生长季节的LUGD保持不变，未根据牧草生长变化进行调整。不同草地区域的牧草粗蛋白（CP，p = 0.0038）、代谢能（ME，p <.0001）浓度以及有机物中的酸性洗涤纤维（ADF，p <.0001）存在差异。结果表明，在放牧季节可提供维持所需的足够代谢能（4.2 ± 0.32 - 8.4 ± 0.15 MJ ME kg DM）和盲肠前可消化粗蛋白（pcdCP）（37.0 ± 3.86 - 77.4 ± 4.44 g kg DM）。该研究强调，需要激励马场主进行草地管理以提供牧草，从而在放牧季节充分利用草地的潜力。
